Writer, producer, and showrunner, Derek Haas will exit Wolf Entertainment when the current TV season ends.
Haas is the co-creator, Executive Producer, and showrunner of NBC Universal’s Chicago Fire and CBS’s FBI: International. He also developed and served as Executive Producer of Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., and the short-lived Dick Wolf series Chicago Justice. Haas is leaving to create new shows but is committed to finishing out the season.
“Although I am leaving Wolf Entertainment next year to focus on creating new shows, I’m entirely committed to delivering amazing episodes of Chicago Fire and FBI: International through the end of the current seasons,” Haas shared in a statement to Variety. “I learned everything I know about storytelling, pace, characters, production values, and hiring the best cast, crews, and staffs from Dick Wolf and Peter Jankowski, and as hard as it is to leave a place you love and have called home for over a decade, including incredible support from Universal Television, NBC and CBS, I look forward to building my own brand in entertainment.”
He added, “That said, there are many, many twists and turns still to write on these two shows between now and May, so stay tuned for some epic surprises.”
Haas has been with Dick Wolf Entertainment since 2011 when the One Chicago dramas were born with Chicago Fire. After the success of the series, Haas developed the spin-off Chicago P.D. in 2014 with Michael Brandt who was also co-creator of Chicago Fire. Chicago Med was the second spin-off from Chicago Fire that the duo developed and began airing in 2015.
In addition to his TV credits, Haas co-wrote the screenplays for 2 Fast 2 Furious, Catch That Kid, 3:10 to Yuma, Wanted and Overdrive. He has also written six novels, including The Right Hand and The Silver Bear/Columbus Thrillers series, which is currently being adapted into a screenplay which Haas will serve as Executive Producer, along with Michael B. Jordan, who will also star in the Gerard McMurray directed thriller.
Haas is also teaming up with mega-star Vin Diesel for XxX 4. Diesel is producing and starring in the film along with Jay Chou and Zoe Zhang. Haas will serve as writer and D.J. Caruso is directing.
Haas’ exit is just the latest shakeup in the One Chicago franchise. In this season alone, we lost Jesse Lee Soffer from Chicago P.D., Guy Lockard, Sarah Rafferty and Asjha Cooper from Chicago Med, plus the announcement of Brian Tee leaving Med in the near future, and Jimmy Nicholas from Chicago Fire.
Chicago P.D.’s Jay Halstead (Soffer) took off to Serbia to hunt Cartel members, but Soffer hasn’t left the show for good and we expect him to return to direct in Season 16. Dr. Dylan Scott (Lockard) left Chicago Med abruptly after a traumatic loss and Dr. Pamela Blake (Rafferty) is taking time to recuperate from her injury, however showrunners confirmed that we won’t be seeing her again. Vanessa Taylor (Cooper) left Med to travel to the Philippines and help others and Dr. Ethan Choi (Tee) will have his last day on December 7, so we are unsure where the character is going, however Tee will return behind the cameras to direct. In a shocking turn of events, during the Chicago Fire episode where the historic Pickwick Theatre was set ablaze, all being controlled by the amazing Chicago Fire techs, Evan Hawkins (Nicholas) was tragically killed when part of the building collapsed on him while he was trying to save a man exiting the building.
So far, this has been a very exciting and dramatic season for all of the One Chicago dramas and we can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in the future!
Chicago Fire executive producers include Dick Wolf, Derek Haas, Todd Arnow, Andrea Newman, Michael Gilvary, Michael Brandt, Reza Tabrizi, Arthur W. Forney, Peter Jankowski.
Chicago Fire is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment. Filmed at Cinespace Chicago Film Studio.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c NBC.
Sign up for our free elert here and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
